In suspending beleaguered former technology chief Anthony Jones on Wednesday, New Orleans officials cited allegations in two recent audits that Jones took an "unlawful" trip paid by a contractor, directed the falsification of a vendor invoice and intentionally violated contract requirements.

The problems might not end there. The Metropolitan Crime Commission has lodged new allegations against Jones: that he filed a bogus purchase order to buy Dell computers and took other trips arranged by an official at Ciber, the same company that paid for the "unlawful" gratuity mentioned in the city's suspension letter.

Jones' attorney, Lionel "Lon" Burns, did not comment on the new allegations during an interview Thursday evening. But he said his client, who previously denied the allegations outlined in the two investigations, plans to appeal the 120-day suspension without pay.

"Mr. Jones is disappointed by the disciplinary actions of the City of New Orleans taken against him, " Burns wrote in response to e-mailed questions. "It is his full intention to utilize the Civil Service appellate process in rectifying this matter and ultimately clearing his name."

Jones has 30 days from Wednesday to file an appeal.

Jones has been earning $86,000 a year in his civil service position as the city's director of management information systems ever since losing his $160,000 technology chief post last summer, ostensibly for lying about his education on job applications.

Earlier this month, more damaging allegations, involving possible illegal activity, came out in a report by the city's independent inspector general and a separate forensic audit commissioned by Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield.

On Wednesday, Harrison Boyd, the man who took over for Jones as interim chief technology officer, sent Jones a suspension letter, saying he had violated city policies and engaged in "unacceptable conduct."

That same day, the Mayor's Office of Technology held a disciplinary hearing with Jones, according to records sent to civil service.

The letter says Jones' "objectionable transgressions include but are not limited to . . . unlawful receipt of a gratuity from Ciber, " a city contractor that paid for Jones to attend and speak at a conference in Colorado; "authorizing the preparation and subsequent payment of a false invoice" to contractor LSI Research Inc.; and "intentionally making material changes to cost and performance specifications" in LSI's crime-camera installation bid and Ciber's network services contract.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission, which first raised questions about Jones' qualifications, has alerted the city inspector general and federal investigators about other possible wrongdoing by Jones.

Last year, the Crime Commission confronted city officials about a supposed "purchase order" Jones sent to Dell, a state-approved supplier, for $119,027 worth of equipment. The Crime Commission sent an e-mail to Hatfield saying, "The purchase order number is bogus."

Jones assigned the document a requisition order number that actually applied to the technology department's purchase of parking spaces in the Superdome, the Crime Commission alleged. A requisition order is different from a purchase order.

The Crime Commission offered no explanation of whether the city got the computers or whether it paid for them, or why Jones might have structured the transaction that way. But a City Hall source said using a requisition order number would allow him to bypass the city's normal purchasing protocols.

The private investigative agency also has documents indicating Jones took trips to San Francisco and Chicago in which a Ciber official discusses arranging for tickets for Jones.

Crime Commission Vice President Anthony Radosti said he has tried to confirm Jones' absence from the city on those dates and find out whether the city paid for the alleged trips, but he said he hasn't received those answers, despite filing several public-records requests.

The Crime Commission also got incomplete answers to its questions about the Dell purchase order.

"We questioned the legality of it because it didn't follow in any way, shape or form the city's purchasing directives, " Radosti said. "But the city gave us limited responses that didn't answer our core questions."

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David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3322.